Funny, what colleges teach these days

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ^ | Thursday, April 26, 2007 | CHRISTINE FREY

[Sopater]

In a recent lecture, Rifas discussed one of the most famous graphic novels, Art Spiegelman's "Maus," which tells the story of the Holocaust with Jews depicted as mice and Germans as cats. He noted the number of Jews killed each day during World War II and how that compared with the daily casualties from the Iraq war and the recent killings at Virginia Tech.

It would be interesting to know how the numbers were compared and what numbers were used. It would also be interesting to know who was deemed responsible for the number of casualties in Iraq. It is already clear who was responsible for the casualties in Europe during WWII and for the casualties at Virginia Tech. Is someone being compared to Hitler and Cho? I thought this was a course on comics. Sounds like a bad joke to me.

[Billthedrill]

Maus is an absolutely stunning piece of work and completely worthy of study on a collegiate level. It ought to be required reading, IMHO.

[Joe 6-pack]

"What makes comics unique is their combination of drawings and writings."

Yeah, what an innovative, cutting edge concept...

[kinoxi]

The comparison with Mao would be more appropriate.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Hope he's using Scott "Zot" McCloud's Understanding Comics as a textbook. No finer guide to the inner workings of the artform anywhere, and it's all done in comic panels!

[outofstyle]

Meanwhile, the rest of the world continues to put their people through our universities and pump out the doctors, engineers and research scientists.

[The Worthless Miracle]

There have been classes on The Beatles, jazz, etc for years. Comics are a much more legitimate topic than “afro american studies” “feminist studies”, etc. They are a form of art.

Worst. Death. Ever. -Comic Book Guy

[HitmanLV]

Good book, and never forget Eisner’s ‘Comics & Sequential Art,’ a classic resource also.

Actually, almost anything by Eisner is classic. ;-)

[Ursine_East_Facing_North]

It seems like most 4-year colleges are requiring all students to take some sort of art class nowadays.

I’d rather take something like this, then the course in Art History I did take.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Amen! Eisner is the man!

[DeFault User]

Just think of all the monks put out of work by Gutenberg. ;>)

[johnny7]

The leftist intelligentsia have their students study America as if it were criminally reprehensible... or more accurately, a reprehensible criminal who has not yet been brought to justice.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Just think of all the monks put out of work by Gutenberg."

I doubt they even noticed the difference in their paychecks...;-)

[GATOR NAVY]

My 6th grader just read it. I started it but then he had to take it back to school. I think I’ll ask him to check it out again so I can finish.

[Sopater]

Maus is an absolutely stunning piece of work and completely worthy of study on a collegiate level. It ought to be required reading, IMHO.

I don't have a problem with teaching comics in college, but I do have a problem with the teacher comparing the daily death toll in Iraq with that of the holocaust or the VT shootings, unless his point was that American soldiers are doing what they can and must do to try and put an end to the killing in Iraq. The article was rather vague on how the comparison was made.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I’d rather take something like this, then the course in Art History I did take.

Let me guess...Endless slides of paintings of baby Jesus by guys whose names end in vowels?

[Sopater]

Here is a college resource and study guide for Maus: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/33dTexts/maus/MausResources.htm

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

but I do have a problem with the teacher comparing the daily death toll in Iraq with that of the holocaust or the VT shootings, unless his point was that American soldiers are doing what they can and must do to try and put an end to the killing in Iraq.

If I was to guess, I'd say that it would be along the lines of "You think Iraq or VT are bad? More people died every ten minutes in the Holocaust--for years"

[weegee]

That’s illuminated text but the text and illustration are ultimately working independent of each other.

[Joe 6-pack]

"but the text and illustration are ultimately working independent of each other."

? By independent do you mean physically (i.e. the text is not in a "speech bubble") or the subject matter of the text is independent from the subject matter of the miniature? Such is not always the case...